Whispers
' |image= |series= |production=40512-434 |producer(s)= |story= Paul Coyle |script= Paul Coyle and Michael Piller |director= Les Landau |imdbref=tt0708664 |guests=Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien, Susan Bay as Adm. Rollman, Todd Waring as Ens. DeCurtis, Philip LeStrange as Coutu, Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien |previous_production=Armageddon Game |next_production=Paradise |episode=DS9 S02E14 |airdate=6 February 1994 |previous_release=(DS9) Armageddon Game (Overall) Sub Rosa |next_release=(DS9) Paradise (Overall) Lower Decks |story_date(s)=47581.2 - 47579.4 (2370) |previous_story=(DS9) Armageddon Game (Overall) Lower Decks |next_story=(DS9) Paradise Overall) Thine Own Self }} Summary As the episode begins, O'Brien races back to the Paradan system in the Gamma Quadrant. He intends to advise the Paradans to call off the peace conference scheduled for DS9. Several days prior, O'Brien had traveled to the Paradan system to discuss security arrangements, but when he returned he found almost everyone on board DS9 subtly changed. Keiko had seemed strangely distant. Bashir had insisted that O'Brien come to the infirmary for a complete physical. Sisko and the others had even approached him with weapons drawn, but the chief was ready and quickly escaped in a runabout. In fact, the O'Brien who is attempting to warn both sides in the conference is a replicant, constructed by scientists of the Paradan government, to commit an act of violence against Paradan rebels during the peace conference. The real O'Brien is still in the Paradan system. The rebels discovered the govemment plan and informed Sisko before the faux O'Brien returned to the station. Even stranger, when Sisko attempts to retrieve the real O'Brien, the replicant bursts in and accuses the commander of siding with the rebels. Sisko tries to keep everyone calm, but a rebel fatally wounds the replicant - leaving the commander to ponder that the scientists did their job too well. This O'Brien had the same commitment to duty as the original. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # At the beginning of the episode, O'Brien sets a heading of "410 mark 32." According to the Tech Manual, head- ings are set using the degrees of a circle. Since there are 360 degrees in a circle, the first number should be in the range O through 359. Maybe it should have been 41 mark 32 – either that or it was a quick way to get the runabout to complete a full turn, before heading off! ''' # During a voiceover, O'Brien mentions that his birthday is in September. Many nitpickers took exception to this, since Alexander gives his birth date as a star date in New Ground (TNG). '''Maybe O'Brien's a traditionalist? # Sometimes Security procedures on DS9 just baffle me. O'Brien is on the run. Ops locates him and erects force fields around his position. Unfortunately, they leave a terminal running inside the area defined by the force fields, so O'Brien can escape. Does this make sense? Isn't this like putting an escape artist in stocks and then making sure he has a set of lock-picking tools? It may not have been possible to deactivate the terminal without cutting power to the force fields. # And while were talking about Security procedures, how many times are the Security officers going to forget to check the conduits when someone disappears from a hallway? After Jake notifies Security of his position, O'Brien runs down a hall and jumps in a conduit. Security personnel soon trot by without even giving the conduit a glance. They probably knew he could be too far along the conduit for them to see by the time they get there. Changed Premises # Several times this episode indicates that DS9 received transmissions from the Paradan System. There is no question that the Paradan System is in the Gamma Quadrant. Yet in Destiny, Sisko and company work with a team of Cardassian scientists to place a communications relay in the Gamma Quadrant. That episode says that the relay will finally make it possible to communicate with the Gamma Quadrant! Perhaps they opened the wormhole, without flyng into it, to allow the transmissions to be made. Equipment Oddities # Searching for the cause of every-one's strange behavior, O'Brien has the computer scan for signs of telepathy. Somebody upgraded something somewhere in the past years! During Night Terrors (TNG) Troi had to deduce that aliens were trying to com municate with the ship telepathically because the sensors couldn't register telepathic transmissions. The incident shown in Night Terrors may have led to accelerated research in telepathic detection. # All that racquetball has improved O'Brien's reflexes. Just after Sisko and company draw phasers on him in Odo's office, O'Brien takes out one Security officer and dodges a phaser blast from another! He was obviously ready for the others to try and shoot at him. # To hide from a pursuing runabout, O'Brien takes his vessel into the magnetic pole of a moon. Sensors soon quit working, and the computer informs O'Brien that he must switch to manual navigation. So...the runabout's computer can't navigate with visual systems when its sensors go dead? The visual sensors may have also been affected. Continuity and Production Problems # Try this one on for grungy nitpicking. Just before a commercial break, O'Brien makes the dramatic statement, "This was not my Keiko." Coming back from the break, O'Brien asks the computer to play back his last entry, and we hear the line again: "This was not my Keiko." Except...the intonation on "my" is different. It's more elongated the second time. In other words, it was quicker for the creators to have Colm Meany read the line twice than it was to have him read it once and then dub it once! This could be a minor computer fault. Nit Central # Norman on Wednesday, February 24, 1999 - 3:33 am: Why are Sisko and co. willing to let O'Brien run freely on the station? Wouldn't it be better, for security purposes to hold him in custody and tell him why? dotter31 on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:47 pm: Without some proof such a detention would be illegal, and O'Brien would not cooperate (as he did not when they did try to hold him) # Why do the crew members seem reluctant to tell the replicant he is a replicant? Do they fear he will suddenly turn violent once the knowledge is known? If so, that would be a great way to confirm he is the replicant, now wouldn't it? Seniram 1) He might not accept it. 2) The knowledge could kill him. 3) It could lead to the real O’Brien being killed. dotter31 on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:47 pm: If they did, the replicant O'Brien would have asked for proof. They tried to find proof, but (as they said at the end) they were unable to find any evidence to back up what they had been told. If someone told you that you weren't really you, would you simply accept that at face value? # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Monday, September 11, 2000 - 11:18 pm: In the Voyager episode Hunters, Tuvok says that it is a Starfleet requirement that two people are supposed to be on a mission, but O'Brien apparently went to Paradan alone. Did Sisko feel that it was better to endanger O'Brien's life rather than risk a short show? That requirement could have been more strictly enforced because of what happened here. # When O'Brien's flying to warn the Paradan government, why didn't he send a sub-space warning? It could have been intercepted or blocked # CrackedButter on Sunday, December 28, 2003 - 5:45 pm: The Mekong was 7 minutes behind the runabout, but when he comes out of warp they are 2 minutes behind, seconds after leaving warp himself. Shouldn't they still be 7 minutes behind when THEY leave warp as well? Not if they were travelling at a higher warp factor Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine